difficult to read too much into the result, an even number of rounds with equal games with white/black would have perhaps been better?
Houdini 2 Blitz Tournament Results

Here we had Houdini 2 take on Deep Rybka 4.1 in 200 5-minute games:
1 Houdini 2.0 Pro x64 3195 +77/-29/=94 62.00% 124.0/200
2 Deep Rybka 4.1 SSE42 x64 3190 +29/-77/=94 38.00% 76.0/200
AMD Phenom(tm) II X6 1090T Processor x6 @ 3.20 GHz - 8.00GB Memory
Windows 7 Home Premium Edition (Build 7600)
Fritz Benchmark:
Speed: 23.33
KNS: 11196
GUI: CB Rybka 3
Book: Perfect 2011- 10 moves
Hash: 256
RB and TB: ON
Ponder: OFF
Blitz:5' 0

Here we had Houdini 2 take on Deep Rybka 4.1 in 120 10-minute games
1 Houdini 2.0 Pro x64 3195 +44/-19/=57 60.42% 72.5/120
2 Deep Rybka 4.1 SSE42 x64 3190 +19/-44/=57 39.58% 47.5/120
AMD Phenom(tm) II X6 1090T Processor x6 @ 3.20 GHz - 8.00GB Memory
Windows 7 Home Premium Edition (Build 7600)
Fritz Benchmark:
Speed: 23.33
KNS: 11196
GUI: CB Rybka 3
Book: Perfect 2011- 10 moves
Hash: 256
GTB and TB: ON
Ponder: OFF
Blitz:10' 0

Here we had Houdini 2 take on Critter 1.2 SSE4 x64 in 60 10-minute games:
1 Houdini 2.0 Pro x64 3195 +17/-10/=33 55.83% 33.5/60
2 Critter 1.2 64-bit SSE4 3190 +10/-17/=33 44.17% 26.5/60
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 Q- 960 3.20 GHz8x @ 4.00 GHz 18.00 GB Memory
Windows 7 Professional Professional (Build 7600)
Fritz Benchmarks:
Speed: 24.89
KNS: 11946
GUI: CB Rybka 3
Hash: 256
Book: Perfect 2011 -10 moves
GTB: ON
Ponder: OFF
Blitz:10' 0

Here we had Houdini 2 take on Deep Rybka 4.1 in 120 5-minute games:
1 Houdini 2.0 Pro x64 3195 +58/-13/=49 68.75% 82.5/120
2 Deep Rybka 4.1 SSE42 x64 3190 +13/-58/=49 31.25% 37.5/120
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 4CPU 960 3.20 GHz x8 @ 4.00 GHz with 17.9 GB Memory
Microsoft Windows XP 64 Bit Professional Service Pack 2 (Build 3790)
Fritz Benchmark:
Speed: 24.98
KNS: 11988
GUI: CB Rybka 3
Book: Perfect 2011-10 moves
Hash: 256
RB and GTB: ON
Ponder: OFF
Blitz:5' 0

All of those games listed above were a side project of The Power Chess Project. We have more blitz games, but the point is made. Houdini 2 is doing well. Back to our real testing: G/3 hours + 60 sec/move. Join us!

Interestingly, Houdini 2 (standard edition) is weaker than Houdini 1.5a on my hex-core. Houdini 2 (standard) has been "hobbled" for high end hardware, requiring those users to buy the Pro edition. A very neat trick by Mr. Houdart.
p.s. My Fritz benchmark:

Interestingly, Houdini 2 (standard edition) is weaker than Houdini 1.5a on my hex-core. Houdini 2 (standard) has been "hobbled" for high end hardware, requiring those users to buy the Pro edition. A very neat trick by Mr. Houdart.
p.s. My Fritz benchmark:
Impressive, Prawn!
Yeah, power boxes have to buy the Pro version of Houdini 2. I am a bit displeased that the Large Page support is not included in the Standard version.

Interestingly, Houdini 2 (standard edition) is weaker than Houdini 1.5a on my hex-core. Houdini 2 (standard) has been "hobbled" for high end hardware, requiring those users to buy the Pro edition. A very neat trick by Mr. Houdart.
p.s. My Fritz benchmark:
Impressive, Prawn!
Yeah, power boxes have to buy the Pro version of Houdini 2. I am a bit displeased that the Large Page support is not included in the Standard version.
Houdini 2 uses only 75% of the processor power that Houdini 1.5a does on my machine. The reason? the max number of threads has been reduced from eight to six.

Yeah, that is a good point to make everyone aware of. The pro version supports more than 6 threads/CPUs.

Is there a free version of Houdini 2? If so, where?
No, there are no free versions of Houdini 2.
http://www.cruxis.com/chess/houdini.htm

Is there a free version of Houdini 2? If so, where?
No, there are no free versions of Houdini 2.
That's not quite the same as saying that one cannot obtain a copy of the Standard Edition, for free.
Seek and ye shall find.
all the free online versions of Houdini 2.0 seem incredibly weak, to me it looks like somebody has just renamed the Chess Titians engine and passed it off as Houdini 2.0

and some 1 minute results !
Engine Score Ho Ho Cr Fr Fi St De Ko Ko S-B
1: Houdini_20_Pro_x64 48.0/64
2: Houdini_15a_x64 45.0/64
3: Critter_1.2_64bit 40.0/64
4: Fritz UCI 13 x86 38.5/64
5: Fire_22_xTreme_x64_PP 36.5/64
6: Stockfish-211-64-ja 31.5/64
7: Deep Rybka 4.1 x64 23.0/64
8: Komodo3-64-sse 14.5/64
9: Komodo3-64 11.0/64
288 games played / Tournament is finished
Name of the tournament: Arena tournament15
Level: Blitz 1/0
Hardware: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2600K CPU @ 3.40GHz oc to 3.70GHzwith 16.0 GB Memory

and some 1 minute results !
Engine Score Ho Ho Cr Fr Fi St De Ko Ko S-B
1: Houdini_20_Pro_x64 48.0/64 ········ =1110001 100=00=1 =0111111 1=101=11 1110=111 =111==11 =1111111 1111=111 1337.2
2: Houdini_15a_x64 45.0/64 =0001110 ········ =0=11=11 =011==1= ===11=11 01101=11 =0=11=0= 111=1111 11111111 1261.5
3: Critter_1.2_64bit 40.0/64 011=11=0 =1=00=00 ········ 0==111=0 110=1=01 =1=11=== ==111101 11001111 0101=111 1167.0
4: Fritz UCI 13 x86 38.5/64 =1000000 =100==0= 1==000=1 ········ ===1==11 11101110 11100==0 111111=1 1111=111 1020.0
5: Fire_22_xTreme_x64_PP 36.5/64 0=010=00 ===00=00 001=0=10 ===0==00 ········ ==1==1=1 11111=0= 11111111 1=111111 912.00
6: Stockfish-211-64-ja 31.5/64 0001=000 10010=00 =0=00=== 00010001 ==0==0=0 ········ 01=10111 11111111 11111==1 772.25
7: Deep Rybka 4.1 x64 23.0/64 =000==00 =1=00=1= ==000010 00011==1 00000=1= 10=01000 ········ 00010010 1=10011= 721.75
8: Komodo3-64-sse 14.5/64 =0000000 000=0000 00110000 000000=0 00000000 00000000 11101101 ········ =11=01== 338.75
9: Komodo3-64 11.0/64 0000=000 00000000 1010=000 0000=000 0=000000 00000==0 0=01100= =00=10== ········ 305.50
288 games played / Tournament is finished
Name of the tournament: Arena tournament15
Level: Blitz 1/0
Hardware: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2600K CPU @ 3.40GHz with 16.0 GB Memory

here are some results of 5 min blitz tourny i did with my engines :
Engine Score Ho Fr Ho Fi De Ko St Ko Cr S-B
1: Houdini_20_Pro_x64 22.0/30 ···· =11= 1=0 =110 =111 1=0= 1101 11= 1111 306.00
2: Fritz UCI 13 x86 18.5/30 =00= ···· ===1 1==0 1==0 01== 110 111 1111 251.75
3: Houdini_15a_x64 17.5/30 0=1 ===0 ···· 1=1= 1001 01= 0111 1=1= 1=0= 248.00
4: Fire_22_xTreme_x64_PP 16.5/30 =001 0==1 0=0= ···· 1=== 101 10=1 =11= ==1 233.25
5: Deep Rybka 4.1 x64 16.0/31 =000 0==1 0110 0=== ···· =011 111 10== ===1 219.25
6: Komodo3-64-sse 11.5/29 0=1= 10== 10= 010 =100 ···· 0000 0==? 10=1 185.00
7: Stockfish-211-64-ja 11.5/30 0010 001 1000 01=0 000 1111 ···· ==0= =0== 161.00
8: Komodo3-64 11.0/29 00= 000 0=0= =00= 01== 1==? ==1= ···· ==== 149.75
9: Critter_1.2_64bit 10.5/31 0000 0000 0=1= ==0 ===0 01=0 =1== ==== ···· 143.50
135 of 360 games played
Name of the tournament: Arena tournament
Level: Blitz 5/0
5-Round Round Robin Tournament, starring:
Houdini 2.0 x64, Houdini 1.5a x64, Critter 1.2 x64 SSE4, Stockfish 2.11 x64 JA, and Deep Rybka 4.1 SSE42 x64
Time Control: 40 moves/4 minutes
Processor: Quad-core 64-bit AMD 9750
Hash: 512 mb each
EGTBs: Nalimov and Gaviota on an SSD
Ponder: Off
Book: Adam Hair 12-Move
EGTB Hash: 128 mb each